Holidaymakers flocked to the Wirral and Sefton coasts to take the waters at open-air bathing lakes

In the early part of the 20th century, Merseyside was famous for its lidos. Holidaymakers flocked to the Wirral and Sefton coasts to take the waters at open-air bathing lakes.

Beauty pageants were the order of the day and on sunny days it was standing room only.

Outdoor swimming was a huge attraction and in 1934 New Brighton Pool was opened by Lord Leverhulme.

At a cost of £90,000, it was the largest lido in Britain. Its magnificent art deco styling made it a design classic and bathers loved the contoured shallows and high diving boards.

In 1937, the pool celebrated its millionth visitor, Mary Drew. Over the years, it played host to wrestling competitions, midnight bathing, dances and the Miss New Brighton contest.

In 1984, ITV staged a spectacular outdoor concert at the pool. New Brighton Rock starred Nik Kershaw, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Spandau Ballet, the Weather Girls and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a four-day musical extravaganza.

Outdoor pools began in Bath in the early 19th century, designed to entice swimmers from rivers and lakes. Years before the Italian word “lido” was adopted, resorts including Southport were building fabulous, classically-inspired pools.

When the Derby Bathing Pool in Wallasey was opened in 1932, crowds flocked to it. The ECHO reported on the resultant over-crowding: “Wallasey’s £50,000 new bathing pool is certainly drawing the crowds and the shore is invaded on sunny Sundays by thousands who come by ferry, bus, tram and train.

“The popularity of the new pool is amazing – policemen are needed to control the queues.”

Hoylake also had a lido on the promenade. It was opened in June, 1913, and rebuilt in the late 1920s at a cost of £25,000.

Parkgate had an outdoor pool, built by Mostyn House School in 1923. It was built as a facility for the school, but it was also open to the paying public. It was a big attraction, but with the silting of the River Dee, the water supply it needed disappeared.

The cost of pumping the water into the pool increased as the water level fell. The baths were closed in 1942 due to the war, and spiralling bills. It reopened in 1947 due to popular demand, but the fees for piping and pumping the water was too much and it closed for good in 1950.

A national poster campaign in 1932 advertised the joys of outdoor bathing. The travelling public were told to come to Merseyside – and Southport in particular – for its spectacular open air pools.

The poster was unstinting in its praise: “Swimming pool is far too prosaic a name to describe the magnificent temple that Southport has built to the goddess of air and water and sunshine. Here the youth and beauty of the town disport themselves in the most elegant surroundings and men and maidens meet in the pleasant cafes surrounding.”

Ainsdale, too, had a lido, opened in 1933 and costing £30,000. It was initially known as Ainsdale Bathing Centre. During the Second World War, the lido and much of the seafront area were turned into a naval base, HMS Queen Charlotte. Despite a number of attempts to revive the lido in the post-war era, trends had changed and it failed to replicate its earlier successes.

Elsewhere, as we reached the 1980s, the crowds also dwindled. Holiday-makers were travelling abroad for the summers and our pools, like so many around the country, suffered from a lack of investment. When storms damaged the structure of the New Brighton pool in 1990 it was demolished, nine years after the one in Hoylake.

Ainsdale’s lido was used as a cafe and licensed premises and dance nights were held there going into the 1980s. It was demolished in 2007.

Send a story

Advertising Department

Trinity Mirror Merseyside, the Echo's parent company, is one of the North West’s largest multimedia providers reaching more than 900,000 adults every month.

The Liverpool Echo, Trinity Mirror Merseyside’s flagship brand, is the area’s best-read newspaper including national newspapers.

The Liverpool Echo reaches 1 in 3 people in the area with a daily readership of more than 256,000* people.The Liverpool Echo website reaches 1.5 million unique users each month who look at around 8.5 million pages**.

The Editor

Alastair Machray

Alastair Machray was appointed editor of The Liverpool Echo in 2005 and is also editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales. He is a former editor of The Daily Post (Wales and England) and editor-in-chief of the company's Welsh operations. Married dad-of-two and keen golfer Alastair is one of the longest-serving newspaper editors in the country. His titles have won numerous awards and spearheaded numerous successful campaigns.